


n leo thing

by anticommute



Series: phd au [2]
Category: VIXX
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-01
Updated: 2015-09-01
Packaged: 2018-04-18 13:58:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,074
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4708508
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anticommute/pseuds/anticommute
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>leo is a ta and hyuk is scared of him. the end. | (actually written a year ago, but it fits strangely well into phd au so here it is in all it's inane glory)</p>
            </blockquote>





	n leo thing

Times like these, Taekwoon wished he’d picked up smoking. He stared blankly over the darkened courtyard, barely illuminated by the lit windows of the offices that surrounded it. Someone scurried across, skirting the large piece of metal in the middle, some modern art or other, before disappearing into the door in the corner that led to the reception lobby. The light through the large floor go ceiling glass windows meant Taekwoon watched as the person reemerged by the department mailboxes, before again vanishing towards the elevators.

His fingers curled, as if they held a cigarette between them. Taekwoon grimaced, shaking his hand free with the futility of the exercise. Smoking, if he smoked, would have lent an air of legitimacy to why he was on the balcony outside the grad student lounge, as the chill night wind swung through.

The balcony ran the perimeter of the fourth floor, and several offices down, a door opened and a shadow stepped out.

Taekwoon frowned and looked resolutely away, ignoring the approaching footsteps. It was harder to ignore a jacket draped over his shoulders, and even harder to ignore as Hakyeon did the same, arms wrapping around Taekwoon’s neck.

“Get off.” Taekwoon jabbed his elbow back towards the vicinity of Hakyeon’s stomach, and was rewarded with a sharp yelp of protest. Hakyeon, however, clung stubbornly on.

“You’ll catch a cold,” he explained. His voice tickled Taekwoon’s neck, as Taekwoon’s frown grew even deeper.

“Get off,” Taekwoon repeated, but his effort to shake off the leech were half-hearted. Hakyeon was determined, and Taekwoon was tired. Annoyed, frustrated, tired.

To his surprise, Hakyeon let go this time, stepping around to join Taekwoon, leaning half over the railing. Taekwoon glanced at him, noticed that Hakyeon was wearing only his sweater. Hakyeon caught him looking, grinned as Taekwoon looked away. There was no one in the courtyard now, as Taekwoon stared down at the statue.

“I think you made him cry,” Hakyeon said, after a long moment.

“Shut up.” Immediate response. And then softer, in that tone, the one Hakyeon says is his whining one. “I didn’t mean to."

“Sanghyuk’s a good kid, just scared of you."

“Like the rest of his class.” Taekwoon knew he sounded more put out than he meant to. “I don’t know why."

“Smile more!” Hakyeon suggested cheerfully.

Taekwoon stared at him.

Hakyeon shook his head in disapproval. “See, there’s your scary face. You know what I heard a bunch of undergrads say the other day? The TA who—"

“Looks like a serial killer and who’s going to murder them, I know,” Taekwoon cut him off grimly. “If I wanted to kill them, they’d already be dead."

“Was that a joke? Did our Taekwoonie just tell a joke? Aww!"

Taekwoon glared, and reached for Hakyeon’s neck. Hakyeon ducked. 

The kid had wandered in near the end of office hours, with a question about a homework problem Taekwoon hadn’t looked at yet. Hakyeon usually disappeared during office hours, on account of not being able to focus with kids asking questions that Hakyeon didn’t even know the answers to. Especially after the time he hadn’t escaped in time, and accidentally got roped into doing Taekwoon’s job for him. Poorly, because Hakyeon was at heart an experimentalist, and could care less about the Lagrangian of a rolling ball.

“Your silence was uncomfortable!” Hakyeon had said after, when Taekwoon scolded him for teaching the kids the wrong things. Taekwoon had thrown a pillow at him.

This time, Hakyeon had wisely just pointed at Taekwoon when Sanghuk had tried asking him first. Halfway through Taekwoon thinking through the problem, the kid had stammered and apology and then disappeared from their office.

“What…” Taekwoon had started to say, bewildered. “Just happened?"

Hakyeon had very unhelpfully laughed.

Which was when Taekwoon decided he needed another cup of coffee and had stalked out of the office, only to find Sanghyuk huddled in conversation with another student just outside. Taekwoon had given him a look, before striding down the hall, biting back the urge to protest that he did _not_ look like a lion contemplating his prey.

“Should I apologize?” Taekwoon wondered aloud. “For making him cry."

Hakyeon’s eyes widened briefly before his expression settled into a soft smile.

“That would be a start, yes,” Hakyeon agreed.

“But I didn’t even do anything,” Taekwoon said. “I was even trying to be helpful."

Hakyeon sighed. “That’s not what it looked like,” he said. “Really, you keep giving people the wrong impression. How are they ever going to know that their scary TA is actually a huge softie ins—ow!"

“Shut up."

“My poor stomach…” Hakyeon grumbled. “But it’s not like I’m wrong."

Taekwoon grunted something vague. So maybe he had a point. It wasn’t like he could change his face, or anything. And it wasn’t like he _couldn’t_ smile or _didn’t_ smile, it was just that there was nothing to smile about when he was teaching a tutorial or answering questions about classical mechanics. Hell, if he wanted to murder anything, it was the textbook.

Taekwoon sighed, and leaned over the edge until he was all but hanging half off.

“Why is this so difficult,” he complained. “I just want to do my research in peace."

“Gotta get paid somehow,” Hakyeon said.

“Ugh.” Taekwoon could be very eloquent at times.

He sighed deeply again, straightening and shrugging Hakyeon’s jacket off his shoulders in the same movement.

“Please pour me some of that…whatever it is you keep in your drawer,” Taekwoon said. He tossed Hakyeon’s jacket at him.

Hakyeon caught it, expression flashing surprise.

“Why?” he asked.

“I think I’m going to need it,” Taekwoon said. He turned towards the door into the student lounge. Stopped.

“Where would I find him, anyway?"

“Are you actually going to apologise?” Hakyeon sounded far too surprised for Taekwoon’s liking. Taekwoon narrowed his eyes at him. Hakyeon laughed, shaking his head.

“I hope that’s not what you’re planning to do to that poor kid."

Taekwoon groaned, ran a hand down his face.

“I’ll even try to smile,” he grumbled.

“Alright, I’ll be waiting for you back in the office,” Hakyeon said. “Let’s grab Chipotle before we head home?"

“Sure,” Taekwoon said. “As long as you’re driving."

“I don’t keep _that_ much alcohol around,” Hakyeon said with a laugh.

Taekwoon shook his head, and dove out of the darkness.

Good thing he didn’t smoke, he thought. He really hated the smell.


End file.
